Laid-off employees seek mediation Laid-off employees seek mediation (December 17, 2003)

By David Boyce
Almanac Staff Writer

They're going, but they're not going quietly. Four employees of the business office shared by the Las Lomitas and Menlo Park elementary school districts are headed to mediation as a last bargaining effort before being laid off at the end of January.

The Las Lomitas Elementary School District, which employs the staff, decided, as a courtesy, not to send layoff notices until after a mediation session on the morning of December 15, Superintendent Mary Ann Somerville told the Almanac.

The layoffs are due to a reorganization of the business office, from a joint office for the Menlo Park and Las Lomitas districts, to a separate office with fewer employees for Las Lomitas only. Menlo Park is also forming its own business office. The four laid-off employees may apply for jobs with the new business offices. A fifth full-time employee of the joint business office is retiring.

The business office prepares budgets and administers other matters, such as accounts payable and payrolls.

Ms. Somerville would not discuss the issues being negotiated except to say that the district and the classified staff of the business office had reached an impasse and that the staff is entitled to a mediation session as part of their employment agreement.

The business manager, De Modderman, is not part of the classified staff. She managed both districts but was employed by the Menlo Park district. Ms. Modderman is expected to take over the Las Lomitas office in February after parting ways with the Menlo Park district, which plans to hire its own manager.

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